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The 2017 Shooting of Kuki Gallmann and the Politics of Conservation in Northern Kenya

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 April 2018

Graham R. Fox
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Abstract:

This article situates the shooting of white Kenyan landowner Kuki Gallmann within recent critiques of community-based conservation and the politics of whiteness in Kenya. I discuss how conservation has enabled white landowners to consolidate their influence over Laikipia County, as well as neighboring regions of Kenya via an organization called the Northern Rangelands Trust. The NRT is feared to be undermining regional livestock economies, while contributing to land shortages that have precipitated violence in Laikipia. I argue that the pastoralists implicated in these conflicts are subject to a maelstrom of livelihood stressors, some of which are aggravated by the efforts of white Kenyans to expand conservation throughout northern Kenya.

Résumé:

Cet article situe la fusillade d’une Kényane blanche Kuki Gallmann propriétaire de la réserve Laikipia Nature Conservancy au sein des critiques récentes sur la conservation communautaire et la politique blanche au Kenya. Je discute comment la conservation a permis aux propriétaires blancs de consolider leur influence sur le comté de Laikipia, ainsi que les régions voisines du Kenya via un organisme appelé Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT). La NRT est soupçonnée de compromettre les économies régionales du bétail, tout en contribuant aux pénuries de terres qui ont précipité la violence à Laikipia. Je soutiens que les éleveurs impliqués dans ces conflits sont soumis à un maelström d’agents stressants pour subvenir à leurs besoins, dont certains sont aggravés par les efforts des Kényans blancs pour étendre la conservation dans tout le nord du Kenya.

Keywords

ConservationLaikipiawhite settlersNorthern Rangelands TrustGallmann
Type
Forum on Post-Colonial and Contemporary Kenya dedicated to Elliot Fratkin and Richard Waller
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 61 , Issue 2 , July 2018 , pp. 210 - 236
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 2018 

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